Mbarawa hails Vietnamese telecom operators for going rural

02Apr 2016
Theresia Victor
Business
The Guardian
Mbarawa hails Vietnamese telecom operators for going rural

Minister for Works, Transport and Communication, Prof. Makame Mbarawa has commended the new telecom firm, Halotel for its massive rural-centred connection drive, beating its elder peers in the market who had been reluctant in going rural.

Prof. Makame Mbarawa

“There’s been a minimal response of telecoms in bidding for tenders to connect the rural, leaving thousands of villages without access to network, apparently pushing them into endless abject poverty,” he said, adding that Halotel has come at the right time to bridge the rural-urban communication gap.

He said Halotel has come in line with the government’s plan to ensure access to communication services in rural and urban areas since the establishment of the Universal Communications Access Fund in 2006.

“Unfavourable business environment such as low population had for long forced telecom operators to shun rural areas prompting the government intervention by establishing Universal Communications Access Fund to provide grants,’” said Mbarawa.

While the number of mobile phone subscribers in Tanzania has been drastically rising, marking further growth in the communications sector, Halotel is ranked the fastest growing operator in less than six months of its operation in the country. It was founded on October 15, last year.

“When Halotel came with an interest to invest in rural areas, the government had to support them, of course with a number of conditions, such as provision of optical cable to 150 committees, 150 public hospitals, 150 police stations, 65 post offices and free internet for 450 schools,” Prof. Mbarawa said.

The company has already connected 1,800 villages, and plans are underway to connect 1,500 villages this year with the 3G network.

Halotel Deputy Managing Director Le Van Dai said that his firm has connected 100 villages with mobile network of 3G quality for the first time through an 18,000km fibre optic cable across the country.

With a total investment of $1bn (over Sh2trn), the Vietnam-Tanzanian governments joint firm has expanded its services across 26 regions, including 1,500 villages connected for the first time through its 2,500 Basic Transceiver Station (BTS), 18,000 km fiber optic cable all over the country making Halotel the widest and most robust telecom operator in the country, he said.

Like in other African countries, mobile phone use in Tanzania has increased in the past decade, with analysts seeing further growth in the East African nation of over 45 million people.

The country has entertained the latest operator Halotel, expecting to boost the current 67 per cent mobile phone access countrywide.

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